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Full backs

Full backs

Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
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By my reckoning we have now used 6 different right backs this season to go with the six different left backs.

Any advance on 6?
 
And yet we've still been strong defensively over the season!

Which is great but probably explains why we are not scoring enough. Full backs in the modern game need to support the attack as well as defend. I feel a lot of the options we’ve had at full back haven’t contributed enough to our forward play. If they got forward a bit more then it would also give our forward 3 the ability to become more attacking. The central striker would be less isolated as a result and we’d probably score more goals. It may also mean we concede more though!
 
Which is great but probably explains why we are not scoring enough. Full backs in the modern game need to support the attack as well as defend. I feel a lot of the options we’ve had at full back haven’t contributed enough to our forward play. If they got forward a bit more then it would also give our forward 3 the ability to become more attacking. The central striker would be less isolated as a result and we’d probably score more goals. It may also mean we concede more though!

Agree to a point .... we've certainly missed Cunningham and Fisher bombing forward up the flanks and getting crosses in but I think with a fully fit squad to choose from we can attack more and still maintain a good solid defence.
 
Don’t get me wrong we definitely have those options in the squad, we’ve just been a little unlucky with injuries. Which explains why our season has had peaks and dips. When we’ve had good runs it’s been consistent with having our best players on the pitch. The problem lies when we have injuries to key players and we almost have to change our style to accommodate this. Yesterday a good example. Having our best left back at right back. Having our best ball winner unavailable. Our style had to change and we were ineffective.
 
Don’t get me wrong we definitely have those options in the squad, we’ve just been a little unlucky with injuries.

Precisely - now that we have Cunningham and Earl back we are OK at left-back. Once we get Fisher and Woods back the same will be true at right-back. But if it looks like Fisher and Wood are going to be persistently injury-prone then maybe a loan to cover the rest of this season would be in order.
 
Precisely - now that we have Cunningham and Earl back we are OK at left-back. Once we get Fisher and Woods back the same will be true at right-back. But if it looks like Fisher and Wood are going to be persistently injury-prone then maybe a loan to cover the rest of this season would be in order.

Has Fisher had enough injuries to warrant the term injury prone ?
 
Until we have an actual fit specialist in each full back position, we will struggle. They're so important as attacking outlets to take the load off the wingers
 
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